Could Canada’s Next Prime Minister be From Brampton?

Amongst a throng of enthusiastic supporters, Singh made the announcement at Bombay Palace in South Brampton. He said,

“There’s an appetite for new leadership in Canada. Leadership that will bring people together.”

For the last several years Singh has served as a member of provincial parliament for Bramalea-Gore-Malton, and has been the Deputy Leader of the Provincial NDP. Singh rose to prominence as a politician known for finding ways to connect with young voters, and students were an active cornerstone of his campaigns. He was most active in provincial parliament for campaigning against high insurance rates, as well as campaigning for fairer minimum wage, stronger protections for temp agency workers, and an end to the police practice of carding.

Singh first ran for federal politics in 2011, losing then to the Hon. Bal Gosal. In the same year, he went on to run provincially and beat out the longtime liberal incumbent Dr. Kuldip Kular, becoming the first elected member of the NDP in the Region of Peel.

Singh is one of the more active politicians on Instagram and Snapchat, and was featured during Yorkdale’s fashion week. He is also one of the few to be featured in GQ. All this helps him connect with millennials in ways other politicians have failed.

Endorsed by NDP members of legislative assembly (MLA), MPPs and former MPs from across Canada, Singh was credited by Rob Fleming, MLA from Victoria BC, as having helped elect new NDP MLAs in Delta and Surrey.

While Singh hopes to release his platform in coming months he noted some of the policies he hopes to tackle are employment inequality, climate change, reconciliation with indigenous communities, and electoral reform. All of these are things he says Liberals promised but failed to deliver.

The NDP leadership election is due to take place between October 1 and October 29, 2017. If elected as leader Singh will replace the current NDP leader Tom Mulcair. He faces several other prominent New Democrats including Niki Ashton, Peter Julian, Pat Storgan, Charlie Angus, and Guy Caron.

Becoming Prime Minister will be no easy task for him. The NDP were only able to secure 44 seats across Canada in the 2015 federal election, none of which were in Brampton.